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Posted (edited)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/kennedy-center-honors-gala-had-rapport-repartee-and-an-unusual-mix-of-collaborators/2013/12/09/ddd12e68-5ec6-11e3-be07-006c776266ed_print.html

A Washington Post recap of the event from Saturday.

Apparently Bill O'Reilly (really) did the presentation for Herbie Hancock. As far as the music was concerned, Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter played duets on "Walkin'" and "Watermelon Man" according to the report. The program will air on TV on Dec. 29.

Coda: While Herbie and Wayne have played a lot in duet format, have Chick and Wayne done any duet playing outside of what may have happend in context of Miles' band. Moreover, have Chick and Wayne played/recorded together much (or at all) since Miles? Nothing coming to mind immediately but there must be something somewhere.

Edited by Mark Stryker
Posted

Here are President Obama's remarks about the honorees in the formal award ceremony. Some funny moments in the presentation to Herbie, which starts at about the 4:40 mark (but watch from beginning because the remarks about Martina Arroyo are nice too.)

Posted

Chick did a guest appearance on the track 'Mahogany Bird' from Wayne's Phantom Navigator record in 1987. It was not a duet track. Wayne and Chick also played 'Footprints' with Miles at the farewell concert in Paris on 7/10/91. This is all I know of, but it's possible that there was a one-off somewhere at some point since 1970.

Last Sunday may well have been Wayne and Chick's first public duet ever. I was sorry I couldn't be there, but it's a very exclusive event. On the other hand, I really would not have wanted to see the rest of the show. It's too bad the idea of saying a word about Butch Warren before 'Watermelon Man' was played was not floated.

Bertrand.

Posted

Wayne and Chick were followed by Snoop Doggy Dogg, or whatever he is calling himself. Of course, an obvious choice.

At least O'Reilly did not rap along with Snoop. The mind shudders.

Bertrand.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

O'Reilly was actually good - shocking, huh?

I thought the whole performance was good, too. They covered a lot of ground on a short period of time. Of course seeing Chick, Dave, Jack, Terrence and Wayne together was awesome.

Posted (edited)

On a side note, whatever happened to Hancock as a jazz composer? It seems pretty much relegated to the Blue Note period and possibly the early fusion days. The Hancock I've picked up over the last couple of decades almost entirely acts as "tribute": the Quintet and Quartet records, Gershwin's World, The New Standard, Directions in Music. These are all but devoid of his compositions, especially new ones.

Edited by Milestones
Posted

I enjoyed the broadcast immensely... but like others I am confused by the O"Reilly choice for Herbie... he did fine but those can't be Herbie's politics and O'Reilly is nothing if not political...l don't get it.

Posted

garth brooks was amazing. ive never really heard him before, of course i know who he is...spectacular job, absolutely spectacular. "Walkin'?", i mean yes there is a slight herbie connection there....but certainily not the way -they- played it, lol. if they covered it "in the style of the plugged nickel", maybe i could see the relavence, but even then, slim. watermelon man? thats kinda what put herbie on the map, it made sense. yes butch warren should of been brought up, he just died this year. the snoop part, snoop kind of just like took his old songs and changed the lyrics to make them about herbie. the top highlight of the show was steve winwood singing 'everybody's everything'. whoever put this program together knew what they were doing. winwood was perfect for that.

Posted

The part of me that gave half a damn was not reachable when this aired...what exactly did Bill O'Reily have to say about Herbie?

If anybody answers, please accept my apologies in advance if the part of me that gives half a damn is not reachable for a few days. :g

Posted

Overall, the broadcast was more enjoyable that I'd expected (maybe I just have low expectations of such things). And given the songs that I'd heard reports of having been performed as part of Herbie's tribute -- I like what I heard a whole lot better than I'd expected (I was more than half expecting just Chick and Wayne to play Walkin' and Watermelon Man as just a duo -- which didn't sound like such a great idea). Walkin' was better than I'd expected, but still seemed like a weird choice. I guess Watermelon Man is his biggest early hit, but I've never liked to the tune that much (but the performance was a lot more interesting than it could have been.

Anyone know who was the overall Music Director of the night's proceedings? -- the leader of the "house band" that night, so to speak.

Posted

The part of me that gave half a damn was not reachable when this aired...what exactly did Bill O'Reily have to say about Herbie?

If anybody answers, please accept my apologies in advance if the part of me that gives half a damn is not reachable for a few days. :g

He talked about how "serene" Herbie is, and said he could use some of that. And what a gentleman he is, Bill didn't say but I think he could use some of that too.

Posted

Heeeeeeeeeeere's Bill!

Thanks. That was actually perversely entertaining in an old-skool show-biz type way.

I sometimes forget that O'Reilly first came into my awareness on Inside Edition, not in his political commentary and/or auto-parts empires. So, yeah, ok, he can schmooze by nature, I think, good for him, and good for Herbie, and good for all of that being there as an alternative to it not being there at all.

Posted

the top highlight of the show was steve winwood singing 'everybody's everything'. whoever put this program together knew what they were doing. winwood was perfect for that.

Agreed 100% with Aric. Loved this.

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